DISCLAIMER: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any of its characters.

Master Sargent Lynn Spindle stood nervously in front of the briefing room. She had never been sent out on a mission, and she didn't have a problem with that. She had been studying Apache flight patterns when she was called in by Captain Jones. All she ever seemed to do was study.

She knocked on the door three times and was greeted with an intimidating voice she knew all too well. "Come in." She turned the door knob and walked into the small room to a welcoming site: 5 other girls about her age were spread around the room comfortably occupying chairs or leaning against the walls.

Lynn had seen the girls around the base but had never gotten to know any of them. The one that she recognized the most was the sporty, rainbow haired girl sitting in one chair with her legs on another. They called her dash. Sometimes rainbow or else the combination rainbow dash. She was a pilot. A good one.

Next she recognized the girl waving spastically from across the room. Everyone in the base knew her. Pinkie. Well, that probably wasn't her real name but, that's what she introduced herself as during Lynn's "welcome to Fort Canterlot" party. Lynn had figured out by now that pretty much everyone on the base had a nickname, so she guessed she would have to work on that.

She didn't really recognize anyone else except her commanding officer, of course. But that problem was put aside when captain Jones spoke. "Good afternoon, Sargent. We don't have a lot of time, so we're gonna jump right into this. Some recon soldiers have given us reason to believe the Saddle Arabians have scheduled an attack on the base. A bomb raid. We're gonna abandon ship, but we have little time to act and a lot to take care of. Your job is to take this squad I've hand picked and take a C-17 Globemaster III loaded with "precious cargo" to Fort Ponyville to the south. Understood?"

Lynn stood for second wide eyed. From the faces of the other soldiers, she assumed this was their first mission briefing as well, but no one asked questions. "Good," captain Jones said. "Now, I have other matters to attend to. You six will report to hanger 12 at 20:00 tonight. For now, get to know eatchother; you'll need to have some serious cooperation to pull this off." With that he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Dash was the first to speak. "Do any of you know how to fly." She asked looking around the room. Every one shook their head slowly. They all knew what that meant. Dash, a young fighter pilot, would have to fly one of the largest planes in the world. She groaned and threw her head back.

"Anyways." Lynn said trying to soften the tension lingering in the room. "My name is Master Sargent Lynn Spindle. I'm an aerospace design engineer, and I guess I'm in charge a you guys."

Every one stared at her blankly. Along with pinkie, and dash, and Lynn, the room was occupied by a blonde girl with a long pony tail and freckles wearing a cowboy hat, a purple haired girl wearing a suit and tie with high heels, and a pink haired girl sitting in the back that Lynn almost didn't notice.

The blonde girl rose from her chair and put on a charming smile. "Pleased to meet you, sarge. I'm Technical Sargent Alexandra Jackson." She said, shaking Lynn's hand heartily. "They call me Applejack or AJ for short. I s'pose we'll working together tightly on this mission; I'm a mechanic."

"Pleased to meet you too." Lynn said returning the smile. Alexandra or "Applejack" was a southern girl with hospitality and charm. She had a strong build and wore issued Air Force pants and a white tee shirt. "I can't wait to work with you. I'm sure we'll make a great team." Lynn said.

Next to introduce herself was the young lady sitting with her legs crossed elegantly. She stood and extended her arm to Lynn's. "Hello, I'm Staff Sargent Margaret Rare. My friends call me rarity. I work in the techniques and operations unit so I guess I'll basically be deciding how thing will be done." Lynn shook her hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

Next, dash stood and extended her arm to Lynn. "The name's Dash. Danielle Dash. Technical Sargent. They call me Dash or rainbow dash. I work in the swag department. In other words I'm a pilot." Dash wore the same pants a AJ (and everyone else in the room) and a white under shirt with dog tags tucked into it and aviators hanging on her chest.

Pinkie hopped forward for her introduction which was somehow even more straight forward than Dash's. "Hi, I'm pinkie. Well my real name is McKinsey, and my label is staff Sargent Magenta, but all my friends (which is everyone) call me pinkie cus of my hair or pinkie pie cus I like pie." She said losing her slowing her speech and losing her smile for the last three words. "Anyways," she said quickly regaining pace. "I'm a defensive coordinator, and since there's not much defense on a c-17 I guess I'm really important." She said letting her eyes cross paths.

"Ok then, nice to meet you, staff Sargent."

"Please," the excited girl said coming close to Lynn's face. "Call me Pinkie."

"Ok. Pinkie it is." Lynn said, rather dumbfounded by Pinkie's enthusiasm. "I guess that just leaves you in the back." she said looking toward the timid girl almost hidden in a fern.

"Oh I'm uh... Senior Airmen Shire." She said quietly. Every one looked at her boredly. Lynn didn't realize she had even spoken. Applejack filled in for the scared girl. "This here's Senior Airmen Lauren Shire. We call her Fluttershy. She's the best combat medic Fort Canterlot has to offer." She said with an arm on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Yea.." Fluttershy said from behind her pink bangs.

"So, Spindle, you never told us your nickname." Dash said, looking at Lynn.

"Oh well.. I don't really have one."

"Well, we're gonna have to change that." Said the blonde southerner. "Tell us about yourself."

"Well I have a masters degree in aerospace engineering. I've been in the military for three years. I enjoy reading, waking up early, and... well, reading."

The other five girls had thoughtful looks on their faces. "All I heard was 'egghead'" Dash said bluntly. Then, rarity pointed a finger up. "I've got it. The beautiful time between day and night when the sun is orange and the sky is pink."

"Of course," Dash chimed in "you will be know as... Dawn. There was a moment of science as everyone looked at the prideful soldier. "What? That's not it? Ok... Dusk? No? Evening?" She was actually confusing herself at this point.

"Twilight." Rarity said majestically. "We'll call her Twilight. Just don't think about the dreadful movie series." With a chuckle every one nodded there head in agreement to her proposition.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the mess hall. The six young airmen shared stories about their childhoods. They told tales of beautiful farms filled with apples or rocks and a never-sleeping city with climbing towers that touched the clouds.

After a few hours, Lynn (now called Twilight) looked at her watch. 7:45. 19:45 on 24 hour time. Time to report to the hanger.